For some reason, I woke up super early today. I decided to go to the corner coffee shop and draw. I’ve been telling people this story, recently, that happened to me at work. I figured I’d draw it today:

Hello all! I’ve been living in the woods of Vermont for 69 days! Coincidence? I think so.

Here is a photo of the Scouts i’m living with:

From Left to Right: Squatch Matrix, Bitch Hog, Old Cotton (me) and Foam Breeze. I drew about 32 pages in eighteen days! Black River is getting really awesome and really weird at the same time. Ghostshrimp is piling on some crazy ideas. I cant wait for everyone to get to read it. I should have it printed by August first-ish. Here’s one of my favorite pages all close up style. I’ve definitely leveled UP a bunch at drawing foliage and the woods. Being that I walk through them everyday. Also, we started playing Dungeons and Dragons. Here is my lady rogue, Arya Speedwagon. I blurred out the backstory stuff cause I don’t want the other scouts to know about her.

Also, I’ve been thinking of doing a new business card. It will probably tie into this postcard that I drew in the woods and colored at CCS.

I’ll blog again next week. I got tagged in a thing and have to. See you then.

Last August, I was invited to attend the second “class” of Ghostscouts in The Ghostshrimp National Forest. It was a wild a crazy ride of a month! A month spent building cabins and teepees, building LIFELONG friendships, and building on artistic skills.

I can honestly say that month changed the course of my life, indefinitely. I attended comic book school and it was fun and leveled me up a BUNCH. Ghostshrimp leveled me up two fold, both artistically and homesteading…ly. Ghostshrimp has asked me back for a YEAR! I know. It’s no big surprise. (secret…it is) I get to return to my favorite state to, once again, draw tons of comics. However, this time, I’m going to fully document my metamorphosis. I’ve set up a bit of a kick…jumper (though..i AM a part of THIS) to help me get going. i’m calling it GHOSTSTARTER! To prove to you the caliber of stuff you’ll receive, here’s some stuff i’ve been doing lately:

I’ve been busy as a bee working on projects. The next two chapters of The Adventures of Juniper Black are all about drawing architecture. That’s just what I’m into drawing these days. Here’s the first page with some color thrown in for context:

I’ve started doing two quick projects I’ve had kicking around for years now. The must be done by christmas, so they are front runners, currently. I can’t show them off, quite yet.

I’m laying out pages for a zine about my experiences at Ghostcamp. I’m thinking of calling it “Only Downward Strokes”. Ghostshrimp is not a cult:

Then, today is one of my favorite artist’s birthdays. Liz Prince‘s comics made me realize how awesome diary comics can be. I feel like I really cut my teeth on my current level of comics because of her. Drawing everyday is hard. Diary comics are slightly easier, because they’ve already wrote themselves. So, I drew this for her:

This has all been proof that I’m busy working on things between the things I’ve been working on. So, I’ve be extra busy staying busy.

EDIT: Oh, and in two hours, I just rocked out a new header for this site. It’s more detailed than you can really appreciate in the tiny header. Here’s a higher res:

Yesterday, I walked around the city of Charleston, SC all by myself. I can’t remember the last time I did that. It’s an ultra beautiful city that I can hang out in any day. So, I’m going to start doing that, more often. Here’s some stuff I drew in a sketchbook:

So, then I met some friends for some drinks. I got to the bar a little early (2 hours) so I drew this:

I found these old ninja comics I drew while in school. I wanna redraw them and put out a tiny book called Kung Foolery. More of these to come.

I’m plugging away at The Adventures of Juniper Black part two. I think I’ve scripted out Part Three. Then, I’ll print them in Asheville, NC at Woolly Press.

I’ve made it back to Charleston, SC! From the woods, I visited Boston with my fellow scouts, Pussy Wizard and Hawk Jams. Then I went back to Hardwick, VT to do some awesome work for this guy, Perry. Knowledge of building was passed to me. It was a nice end to camp, to build stuff.

From Hardwick, I traveled to good old White River Junction, VT to visit CCS. Classes were just staring for the newly accepted freshmen. They are so cute with the stars in their eyes for comics, still. In just a short semester, they’ll become jaded, disheveled cartoonists like the rest of us. I met up with Pussy Wizard (who was still in Boston) and Foam Breeze in White River.

From White River, Pus Wiz and i attended SPX. We drove 12 hours and spent the night in my car. We woke up, did push-ups, drank some water from the magic spring at ghostcamp. I had zero dollars to spend on comics, but simply had to buy Farel Dalrymple’s It Will All Hurt!

I quickly became obsessed, like I do, and had to draw a comic along the same lines. So, over the 9 hour drive from Maryland to SC, i devised a comic. I’m working on it today and tomorrow. 8 pages, black and white, risographed color cover. Here’s some character designs I sketched out:

It’s tentatively called The Adventures Of Juniper Black. I did the first page yesterday:

Also, this post is the last call for my Ghostshrimp zine. Whoever signs up for one, that’s pretty much going to be the print run. This is your last chance to hop on this train. I’m going to stop taking orders Friday and start the printing process. The zine is probably going to be called “Only Down Strokes” which is an in joke from camp.

I’m going to bust out this Juniper Black story this week. Juniper Black is woman who will show up in Black River, later. This little book is kind of a creepy backstory.

Here’s some of my favorite photos from camp I’ve seen recently:

Camp Life (photo by Michelle Dugan)

Another photo by Michelle. I cant tell if i’m eating ramen noodle or throwing them up (vomin’ noodles).

Also, I ate a years worth of McDonalds on the trip down. At one point, I noticed this dude on my tray paper:

Is it just me, or is his name “eviload”? EVIL LOAD! I think Pus Wiz and I spent an hour in a Mickey D’s on Friday. It was a strange time travel feeling.

And here’s another giant naked lady accidentally falling over in the woods:

Audio: Matt Pond PA.The Nature Of Maps / Explosions In The Sky.The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place